Repository logo
 

From theory to experiments for testing the proximate mechanisms of mast seeding: an agenda for an experimental ecology

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Change log

Authors

Bogdziewicz, Michał 
Ascoli, Davide 
Hacket-Pain, Andrew 
Koenig, Walter 
Pearse, Ian 

Abstract

Highly variable and synchronised production of seeds by plant populations, known as masting, is implicated in many important ecological processes, but how it arises remains poorly understood. The lack of experimental studies prevents underlying mechanisms from being explicitly tested, and thereby precludes meaningful predictions on the consequences of changing environments for plant reproductive patterns and global vegetation dynamics. Here we review the most relevant proximate drivers of masting and outline a research agenda that takes the biology of masting from a largely observational field of ecology to one rooted in mechanistic understanding. We divide the experimental framework into three main processes: resource dynamics, pollen limitation, and genetic and hormonal regulation, and illustrate how specific predictions about proximate mechanisms can be tested, highlighting the few successful experiments as examples. We envision that the experiments we outline will deliver new insights into how and why masting patterns might respond to a changing environment.

Description

Keywords

experimental framework, mast seeding, masting, plant reproduction, research agenda, Ecology, Pollen, Reproduction, Seeds

Journal Title

Ecology Letters

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1461-023X
1461-0248

Volume Title

23

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell
Sponsorship
NERC (via University of Liverpool) (IRIS156483)